UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF HEARINGS

IN THE MATTER OF: GLOBAL AIRCRAFT INTERIORS INC. , FDMS No. FAA-2014-0324 Respondent Monday, October 6, 2014

The teleconference pursuant to notice, at 1:30 p.m. BEFORE: THE HONORABLE J.E. SULLIVAN, Administrative Law Judge



# ORIGINAL

NEAL R. GROSS convened, 1

(202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERSANDTRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.• NW. WASHINGTON. D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com

### APPEARANCES: On Behalf of the Complainant: ZACHARY M. BERMAN, ESQ. of: Federal Aviation Administration Office of Regional Counsel 1 Aviation Plaza Jamaica, NY 11434 (718) 553-3258 (718) 995-5699 

### fax On Behalf of the Respondent: SANDE E. LICHTENSTEIN, ESQ. of: Lichtenstein & 

### Schindel 158 

### West Boston Post Road P.O. Box 787 Mamaroneck, NY 10543 (914) 698-3313 

### Also Present: CODY SMITH, Office of Hearings

NEAL R. GROSS 2

(202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERSANDTRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLANDAVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com3

1 

### P-R-0-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 1:38 

### P.M. 3 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: We're on the 4 record in the matter of Global Aircraft 5 

### Interiors Inc. This is Docket No. FAA-2014- 6 0324. 

### Today is Monday, October 6, 2014 

### and 7 the parties have convened for a Rule 16 8 litigation scheduling conference. 9 

### The FAA 

### is represented by its 10 

### attorney of record, Mr. Zachary M. Berman. 11 The Respondent, Global Aircraft Interiors, 12 Inc., is represented by its attorney, Mr. 13 Sande E. Lichtenstein. 14 Good afternoon to both of you. 15 

### MR. LICHTENSTEIN: Good afternoon, 16 Judge. 17 

### MR. BERMAN: Good afternoon. 18 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: Just so that we 19 have a good record, as I understand it, when 20 

### reviewing the record on September 23, 2014, 

### 21 Mr. Berman filed a scheduling discovery plan. 22 This plan was not a joint plan. It was done

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1 

### by the FAA alone. And the FAA asserted 2 

### essentiallythat Respondent's counsel had not 3 

### responded to the request to participate in a 4 

### Rule 26 conference. 5 

### In addition, on September 29, 6 

### 2014, Mr. Berman requested a postponement of 7 

### the litigation scheduling conference that had 8 

### been scheduled for September 30, 2013 on the 9 

### grounds of a conflict in his education 10 

### schedule. On that same day, September 29, 11 

### 2014, an order granting continuance of the 12 Rule 16 litigation scheduling conference was 13 

### filed, setting the matter to today' s date and 14 

### time. 15 

### My first question then probably 16 

### would be to you, Mr. Lichtenstein. There was 17 

### a court directive that you participated in a 18 

### Rule 26(f) conference with Agency counsel. 19 

### That does not appear to have occurred. Is 20 there some reason why you did not comply with 21 the court order? 22 MR. LICHTENSTEIN: Truthfully, I'm

NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234·4433 COURT REPORTERS ANDTRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005·3701 www.nea!rgross.com5 

### 1 not really fully familiar with all of these 2 rules and that sort, so that's probably-- I 3 thought the main thing was that we were going 4 to have this telephone conversation or 5 conference to try to schedule, work out the 6 

### schedule. And my only problem with the 7 scheduling that I will be away from October 8 22nd to November 4th. 9 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: Well, I think 10 there is a bigger problem than that, which is 11 that you didn't comply with the court 12 directive. 13 

### MR. LICHTENSTEIN: I apologize for 14 that. 15 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: Yes. One of the 16 reasons the court directs the parties to get 17 together ahead of time is so that you can talk 18 about all of these things with each other, 19 review your calendar availability, and then 20 present something jointly to the court for 21 review prior to coming into a conference like 22 this and setting deadlines. So since you're

NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLANDAVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com6 

### 1 not familiar with the rules and with this 2 court's procedure, I think what I might want 3 you to do is to try it out. 4 

### And so what I'm going to do at 5 this time is I will note that I have received 6 from the FAA a unilateral proposal that 7 appears not to have been discussed jointly
s with the Respondent and that the Respondent 9 apparentlyneeds some time to have a chance to 10 talk to Mr. Berman, the FAA attorney, to talk 11 about all of this together. 12 And so our first task is to take a 13 look at our calendars and reschedule this 14 conference and set a deadline for the two of 15 you to talk to each other. 16 Mr. Berman, starting with you and 17 your calendar, I'd like to know about when you 18 think you can get a chance to talk to Mr. 19 Lichtenstein privately about all things that 20 are involved in a Rule 26(f) conference and 21 then together present a new 26(f) planning 22 schedule to the court.

NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS ANDTRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com7 

### 1 So taking that all in mind, when 2 do you think we could reschedule this one-hour 3 conference? 4 

### MR. BERMAN: I'll be taking a few 5 days off over the next couple of weeks, so I 6 think by the last of October. 7 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. 8 

### MR. LICHTENSTEIN: As I indicated 9 

### earlier, I am leaving October 22nd. 10 

### MR. BERMAN: Oh, yes. I forgot 11 about that. 12 MR. LICHTENSTEIN: And will not be 13 returning until November 4th. 14 JUDGE SULLIVAN: And I'm going to 15 stop you, Mr. Lichtenstein. I will give you 16 a chance to talk during this conference, but 17 for our record it would be most helpful if you 18 could remain quiet until I've asked for your 19 20 

### MR. LICHTENSTEIN: I'm sorry. 21 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Thank you. So 22 Mr. Berman, Mr. Lichtenstein's basically

NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLANDAVE., N.W WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com8 

### 1 jumped in and talked about some of his 2 

### conflicts. In looking at your schedule, do 3 you have something available after November 4 4th? 5 

### MR. BERMAN: Yes. Let me just

-- 6 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: And just so you 7 know, I have a trial the week of November 4th. 8 And I am looking at -- it looks like the first 9 week I have open is either the 21st of 10 November, the 24th or the 25th or I could do 11 

### it next -- no, not next week. I could do it 12 either October 22nd or starting in November 13 21st, 24th, or 25th. You tell me what works 14 for you. 15 MR. BERMAN: I 

### think Mr. 16 Lichtenstein said that he would not be 17 available October 22nd. I'm available on 18 November 24th and November 25th. I'm not sure 19 when is Thanksgiving, on the 27th or on the 20 20th? 21 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Thanksgiving is 22 on November 27, 2014.

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### MR. BERMAN: I would be available 2 on the 21st, the 24th or the 25th. 3 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: Mr. Lichtenstein, 4 turning to you, any problems with any of those 5 dates? 6 

### MR. LICHTENSTEIN: No. 7 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. Then let's 

### s set this for Monday, the 24th of November and 9 

### let's plan on -- let's say 10:30, if that's 10 

### acceptable to you, Mr. Berman? 11 

### MR. BERMAN: Yes. 12 JUDGE SULLIVAN: And Mr. 13 Lichtenstein? 14 

### MR. LICHTENSTEIN: Yes. 15 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay. That means 16 that I want to have your Rule 26(f) materials 17 

### by November 17, 2014. It would be very 18 helpful. 19 

### And just so that you know, Mr. 20 Lichtenstein, previous orders that I've issued 21 setting litigation dates and procedures are 22 all on the website. You can look them up on

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### Westlaw, for example. You can also look them 2 up on the Federal Docket Management System. 3 

### Essentially. I usually set deadlines for 4 initial disclosures to which I will direct the 5 parties to exchange before November 24, 2014 6 at this point. You have plenty of time to do 7 that. 8 I'll set a general discovery date. 9 I'll set dates for the exchange of expert 10 

### witness disclosures and expert rebuttal 11 

### reports. I'll set a deadline for completing 12 document discovery, for filing dispositive 13 motions, for exchanging a list of witnesses 14 and exhibits, and I'll also set deadlines for 15

-- set hearing dates. So you'll be wanting to 16 think about those things as well as venue and 17 any other matters that might come up in this 18 particular case that you know about that are 19 important to you and your client. 20 Mr. Berman has a lot of expertise 21 in filing these things and talking about them. 22 You're welcome to talk to him about any other

NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLANDAVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com11 

### 1 matters that you would like to have included 2 

### in a litigation schedule before this court. 3 

### MR. LICHTENSTEIN: Thank you. 4 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: You're welcome. 5 

### Mr. Berman, I know you've already submitted 6 

### one document. I'm going to ask you to work 7 

### with Mr. Lichtenstein in submitting a second 8 

### so that he has a chance to address concerns on 9 

### behalf of his client. You had indicated in 10 

### your preliminary materials that you were 11 

### looking at a two-day hearing. Do you think 12 that that's still viable? 13 

### MR. BERMAN: Yes, I think one day 14 

### would probably be sufficient, but just as 15 

### precaution in case things go longer than 16 

### expected, I think having an extra day would be 17 

### helpful. 18 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: I think that's 19 

### always wise. I would also note in your first 20 

### CR 26(f), you didn't schedule any time for a 21 telephone oral argument on dispositive 22 motions, which I think the parties should be

NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLANDAVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com12 1 doing. And I would recommend highly that you 2 set the oral argument on summary judgment 3 about two months prior to your actual trial 4 date for suggested trial date. The reason I 5 say that is because there are times when the 6 summary judgment is not granted in full, could 7 be granted in part. And that can impact 8 substantially the amount of work the parties 9 need to do in putting together exhibits and 10 witness lists for the actual trial. So if you 11 want to save yourself some time, it's very 12 helpful to get that summaryjudgment decision, 13 which has to be in writing, before you start 14 coordinating and compiling all of your 15 exhibits and witnesses for the trial. 16 With that, I'm going to ask you, 17 Mr. Berman, first if you have anyquestions or 18 matters you'd like to take up before we 19 conclude today? 20 MR. BERMAN: I have no questions. 21 JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay, Mr. 22 Lichtenstein, on behalf of your client, any

NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERSAND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLANDAVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com

### 13 1 matters that we need to address on behalf of 2 your client? 3 

### MR. LICHTENSTEIN: Not at this 4 time. 5 

### JUDGE SULLIVAN: Okay, then I will 6 look forward to getting your materials on or 7 beforeNovember 17, 2014 and I'lllook forward 8 to talking with you both at our second CR 16 9 conference on November 24, 2014 at 10:30 10 Eastern Time. 11 With that, I thank you both very 12 much for your presence today. We can go off 13 the record, and I wish you all a good day. 14 Thank you. 15 

### MR. LICHTENSTEIN: Thank you. 16 

### MR. BERMAN: Thank you. 17 

### (Whereupon, the above-entitled 18 matter went off the record at 1:51 p.m.) 19 20 

### 21 22

NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS ANDTRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLANDAVE.• N.W. WASHINGTON. D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.comA above-entitled

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Neal R. Gross and Co., Inc. (202) 234-4433 Washington DC www.nealrgross.com17 C E R T I F I C A T E

This is to certify that the foregoing transcript

In the matter of: Global Aircraft Interiors

Before: 

### us DOT

Date: 10-06-2014

Place: Teleconference

was duly recorded and accurately transcribed under my direction; further, that said transcript is a true and accurate record of the proceedings.

Court Reporter

NEAL R. GROSS
(202) 2344433 COURTREPORTERSANDTRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLANDAVE., NW. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com